CH 26

The silver-gray metal elevator reflected the cold light.

It was a familiar image.

Xu RenDong stared blankly at the scene in front of him and for a moment he couldn’t remember how many times he had died tragically.

How did he die? Where was everyone else?

His brain was blank. Ding, the elevator door opened suddenly. There is a glare of light outside. The light was so dazzling that he had to raise his hand to cover it.

He wanted to walk towards the light but he suddenly heard a sharp brake sound as if some large vehicle was approaching him at high speed.

Xu RenDong shuddered and opened his eyes suddenly. The glare disappeared at that moment and the truck was nowhere to be seen. However, what he saw was far more terrifying than the worst nightmare!

-Corpses. There were corpses all over the ground.

A corpse whose head was smashed by a sledgehammer and the brain was dashed onto the ground. A corpse covered with snow and frozen purple. The neck was almost severed, the corpse was still gushing blood. The broken bone of his left leg was exposed  and the back of his neck was bitten and full of holes. A corpse with a sharp knife stuck in its heart.

There were corpses that were bitten to pieces, corpses that were twisted into twists with all their spine broken, corpses that were burned to charcoal by fire and were still smoking…

All corpses have the same face.

—All the corpses were him!

Standing in the middle of the corpses, Xu RenDong saw the horrified, desperate, sad and numb look on each one of his dead faces. The horror of dying once again twisted his heart. He started to feel cold and shivered uncontrollably. A big cold hand was closing over his skin, internal organs and blood vessels, robbing him of his little remaining body temperature and destroying his final sanity bit by bit.

Don’t…it hurts…I don’t want to die!

He hugged himself helplessly and curled himself up into a ball. This must be a nightmare, just wake up, just wake up…

While he was comforting himself in this way, various voices rang in his ears. The dull sound of his head being smashed, the rustle of falling snow, the whirring sound of blood spurting out and the muffled sound of a crowbar hitting his leg… all the sounds mixed together and hit his eardrums like a tidal wave. His brain trembled as well and it looked like ten thousand cicadas fluttering their wings at the same time, causing him to have a splitting headache.

No… I don’t want it…

A heavy hammer rubbed against his scalp and the cold wind swept across his cheeks like a knife. The exposed trachea prevented the vocal cords from screaming and the sharp teeth of the animals gnawed at the back of his neck.

All kinds of near-death experiences came together and finally awakened the deepest horror in his heart—

” ——No !” 

Xu RenDong sat up suddenly from the bed, panting in shock. In the darkness, he couldn’t remember where he was. He could only hear his heart beating frantically, his breathing was intense and he could barely breathe.

He was sweating all over and even his muscles became sore and numb because of too much tension.

He couldn’t see anything and he sat in a daze for a while, only to realize that he was inside a warm bed. There is a little shining green light at the head of the bed, which was his mobile phone charging.

His breathing gradually calmed down and reason slowly returned to his brain. Xu RenDong remembered that he was in his own home. After returning from the world of ghosts and monsters, he felt extremely tired.

…He didn’t know how long had passed.

His head was still swollen and painful. Xu RenDong held his forehead and closed his eyes for a while, then took a deep breath and picked up his phone.

The time displayed on the phone was seven o’clock in the evening on Sunday, two full days have passed since the accident. He has been asleep for the past two days. Although his mind and body were extremely exhausted, his sleep was not stable. There were always ghosts dangling in his dreams, as if he was not yet out of danger. He even saw the tragedy of his death.

He thought he could bear it but really he was barely holding on. When he was alone and dreamed in the middle of the night, the fear of death dragged him into the abyss of immortality, allowing him to clearly see his own fragility and helplessness.

…If this goes on, he would go crazy sooner or later.

But he didn’t have much time to adjust. He still had to go to work tomorrow. The work scheduled for him still needs to be completed, otherwise it will affect the progress of his colleagues and the entire project. He can’t drag others down.

The company he works for is a well-known financial analysis firm which has a heavy workload and often requires overtime. Therefore, even on weekends, colleagues and managers sent him a lot of messages, however he had been too tired to pay attention to them. At this time, Xu RenDong looked through the messages one by one and his body gradually woke up. He felt a little hungry so he opened the takeaway software.

At least there is no need to eat bread and milk anymore. Xu RenDong thought with satisfaction.

As he browsed the menu, a message popped up at the top of the screen.

Lian Qiao: Brother RenDong, are you home yet?

As soon as he saw the word “Lian Qiao”, Xu RenDong felt as though he’d fallen into a momentary trance. He clicked on the dialog box and found that Lian Qiao had sent him several messages intermittently over the past two days but he hadn’t looked at a single one.

The last message read: Can I wait for you at your door?

Lian Qiao was waiting for him at his door?

This message was sent two hours ago… Was he still at the door now?

—It’s been so long, so he shouldn’t be waiting anymore.

Although not daring to expect anything, Xu RenDong got up immediately and hurriedly walked towards the door. After two steps, he walked back and glanced in the mirror. He didn’t even change his clothes after he came back and he was still wearing the same shirt and suit he had been wearing that day. After sleeping dizzily for two days straight, the shirt has long wrinkled. Xu RenDong wanted to change his clothes but felt an inexplicable anxiety in his heart. In the end, he did not delay but directly opened the door.

“Woah sulfur fire! And the sickle! It’s over, it’s over, I don’t have enough blood left to change…. Ah? Can I change it? How? Tell me in the barrage….” 

A tall and sunny boy appeared in front of Xu RenDong. He was sitting down on the stairs by himself, holding onto a laptop and playing games. He was wearing headphones and staring at the screen. The light on his face kept flashing and he didn’t even notice Xu RenDong had opened the door.

He was a standard young person who was addicted to playing on the internet.

The appearance of Lian Qiao focused on playing games strongly gave off the impression of the real world, of an ordinary and peaceful life. Such a reassuring picture was in sharp contrast with the terrifying nightmare from a moment ago. Xu RenDong was unwilling to call out to him for a while. He even felt a little greedy and wanted to watch him quietly for a while.

Lian Qiao played a game of fighting monsters. The style is quite cute and cartoonish, but the content was pretty bad. He was controlling a bald man who was attacking monsters by shooting tears. The monsters were all terrible things, such as various organs, pieces of meat, and other indescribable things. The game scene is also very weird. At first, it was an ordinary cellar but then it turned into a bloody room. Blood began to drip on the walls, and the ground was full of maggots. The soundtrack, which was lively and simple in the beginning, gradually became dark and horrible, just like the special effects from a horror film.

Xu RenDong was wondering how it was that Lian Qiao, with his level of courage, was managing to endure it. Sure enough, as the picture became more and more bloody, Lian Qiao looked more and more troubled. At first he would still chat with the audience with a smile but gradually his words became less and less, and in the end he was scared into tears. He fled from the monsters while crying.

“Ahhhhhh don’t chase me! Don’t chase me, my legs are short! Ahhhh! I’m stuck in the corner! Ahhhhh!”

Seeing that this little villain Lian Qiao was forced into the corner by a bunch of monsters, Xu RenDong thought he was about to be killed. He did not expect that Lian Qiao would suddenly manipulate the little villain character to twist left and right, avoiding all the monsters in a thrilling manner. At the same time, tear bullets were fired continuously. It seemed random but the result was that every shot hit a monster. 

In a blink of an eye, all the monsters were killed and Lian Qiao didn’t even lose a drop of blood. Xu RenDong couldn’t help but be amazed.

After this move, it became temporarily safe. Lian Qiao clutched his chest and gasped, and said in shock, “No, I have to slow down,  I was scared to death…” 

He was frightened to death but still played so well. If it wasn’t because Lian Qiao’s talking still sounded like he was crying, Xu RenDong almost suspected that he was acting. At the same time, a lot of barrage flashed on the screen:

“Host, you are a God!”

“You’re awesome! Your pre-judgment ability is amazing!”

“Aoaoaoaoaoao your crying tone is so cute! Ah-Qiao, hug hug! Don’t be scared! You’re the fattest!”

“Your crying sounds so cute, I want to X  you!”

“Hey in front! You’re too rude! Milk Qiao’s Knights Unite! Pulling out our swords!” {Milk Qiao is LQ’s online name, Milk Qiao’s Knights I assume is his fangroup lol.}

Xu RenDong: “…” What are these things, how come he understands less and less.

Lian Qiao unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and drank several sips. He even brought his own ham sausage and after biting open the package, he chewed and chatted with his audience. Xu RenDong looked at his self-satisfied appearance. It seemed that he had already taken the corridor in front of his apartment as an Internet cafe. It was only missing a store owner to make him a bowl of instant noodles.

“I’m really scared, I wasn’t pretending.” Lian Qiao looked at the audience’s questioning on the barrage and said aggrievedly, “Should I put the microphone next to my heart and let you hear my heartbeat?” He then really took his headphones off and pressed the microphone close to his heart.

The barrage suddenly exploded.

“Oh oh oh Ah-Qiao’s heartbeat!”

“Oh no, it’s the feeling of my heart moving!”

“This heart rate must be at least 120, host calm down. Don’t be scared…”

“Ah-Qiao don’t be afraid! We are with you. “

“Don’t you just want coins? Take it! I’ll use my on family’s wealth to give it to you ah!”

Xu RenDong: “…” It’s just a heartbeat, you young people are really too excitable.

Having said that, although Lian Qiao played an action game with horror elements, as an audience member, Xu RenDong did not feel scared but smiled throughout the whole thing. On one hand, Lian Qiao’s skills are excellent, no matter how urgent the situation is, he can turn desperation into success which makes people feel at ease and not nervous at all. On the other hand, Lian Qiao’s frightened appearance was really cute. While cryingly begging the monster for mercy, he still killed all the monsters with his backhand. The contrast was too big, and it was unexpectedly a little…cute?

As someone who has no interest in video games, Xu RenDong watched Lian Qiao playing games for more than half an hour with relish, which showed that was indeed very interesting.

And while looking at him, the sense of despair that had been pressing in his heart over the past two days had quietly disappeared. He even forgot about having nightmares.

At this time, Lian Qiao had put on the headphones back again and watched the barrage seriously. He then replied into the air: “Tonight ah, I’ll be logging off earlier tonight… Well, I have something on. I’m waiting at the door of my friend’s house. Well… he seems to be a ‘current charge’ and is very busy at work so hasn’t returned home yet… Yes, he works so hard…”

Xu RenDong’s heart jumped. En? Is this talking about him?

‘Current charge’?

Xu RenDong immediately took out his mobile phone and looked up the meaning of “current charge” very eagerly.

—Current charge (リアcharge) refers to people who live to the fullest in the real world. The full sentence is “a successful person who lives a very charged and fulfilling life” It was not formal Japanese but an online language used by young people, meaning “someone who’s real life is very fulfilling”.

Xu RenDong thought for a while and corrected out loud: “I’m just busy, not a current charge.”

Lian Qiao swore then turned his head in shock. He finally discovered the big boss RenDong who was sitting on a stool behind him and peeping at him.

“So you are at home! Ren—” He was just about to say it when he thought of something and quickly changed his words, “Uh, wait a minute, I’ll close the mic first.”

Xu RenDong nodded. He saw Lian Qiao take off the headphones and begin to tap the keyboard, his hand speed was staggering. At the same time, another 10,000 barrage flashed on the screen.

“Wow! Whose voice is this! It sounds so good!”

“The voice of a male god! My ears are pregnant!”

“Aoaoaoao is this the host’s friend!”

“Suddenly excited.jpg”

Xu RenDong doesn’t quite understand these internet terms but he was very concerned about the phrase “my ears are pregnant”, so he immediately took out his phone and went to Baidu.

Ears are pregnant: Describes the situation when you hear a certain sound or music, you feel like you have been pricked in your ear’s G-spot, which makes you feel as if you are about to orgasm. It is a compliment and used to describe a beautiful sound making your “ears pregnant”.

……Although this metaphor is a bit vulgar, the imagery is very vivid.

He didn’t think his voice was that nice but this sentence was quite interesting so he learned it.

Lian Qiao turned off the live broadcast and turned his head to see Xu RenDong nodding frequently at the entry “ears are pregnant”, looking quite pleased with himself. Lian Qiao felt amused inexplicably: “Brother RenDong, what are you doing?”

Xu RenDong said earnestly: “Learning.”

… The brain circuits of the boss are still so strange. But he is so cute!

Xu RenDong turned sideways and let Lian Qiao enter the house then closed the door smoothly. Lian Qiao looked at Xu RenDong’s apartment and knew that Xu RenDong lived alone. He heard the sound of Xu RenDong closing the door and ten thousand indescribable scenes suddenly appeared in his mind.

He hurriedly suppressed these evil thoughts and coughed: “By the way, Brother RenDong I found something related to that elevator…” 

As soon as he heard the words ‘elevator’, the terrifying dream of corpses all over the floor appeared in front of Xu RenDong’s eyes again. He frowned unconsciously and sighed, “Sit down and talk.”

***

The author has something to say:

Note: Sulfur fire and sickle are powerful props in “The Binding of Isaac”. In the devil room, you can use the upper limit of the health bar and the devil trade to exchange for certain items. If the health bar is high enough to exchange, the character will die on the spot. However, certain items will increase the upper limit of the health bar after starting, so different results can be achieved according to the different transaction sequence. The game scene described is also from “The Binding of Isaac”.